Categories
Record Shoulder planes

Record 042 shoulder plane

Record 042 shoulder plane
Lovely old classic Record 042. No chips around the mouth and in a half-decent wooden box, (although not the original one it would have come in from the factory).

I finally scored a Record 042 shoulder plane, which came in from a seller who had seen my website.Very pleased that my home-made website actually works and buoyed with childlike enthusiasm, I thought I’d post a few pics.

Record 042 shoulder plane
Sexy ‘as though reclining on chaise-longue’ shot, showing the clean, square soles of these planes.

The Record 042 is specifically designed for cutting rebates, or ‘rabbets’. It’s also very useful for cleaning up tenons and for any other joints that need to be kept very square. This is due to the fact the tool’s square sides can be laid flat as you cut against perpendicular edges. It can of course, be used in the left or the right hand. The iron of the tool not only projects by some 10-thou through the mouth of the plane, but should also be set to project by around half that, from either side of the plane. With this set correctly, movement of the tool means you cut square on all three sides.

Record 042 shoulder plane
The cantilevered top lever pushes down on the iron, to keep it in place. The pressure is adjusted by an adjustment screw at the other end of the lever pushing down.
Record 042 shoulder plane
This image shows iron in mouth of plane. Need to work on getting this set up correctly. With no mouth adjustment, it’s a case of gauging it, depending on the stock you’re working I guess.
Record 042 shoulder plane
With the iron out, you can see the mouth from inside and decent bed to hold it secure.
Record 042 shoulder plane
Previous owner had a pretty steep bevel on the iron, and for me, it’s not even projecting enough to cut. Will have to check bevel angles for the irons on these planes, but with the compound angle of the bed, I should think this needs to be shallower?

This particular model was manufactured post-1938, as the ‘Made in England’ casting  would have previously read ‘British Made’ before 1938. The plane is 8″ long with a 3/4″ wide sole. It’s a classic design and modern shoulder planes from well-known tool makers show that the design has lasted. Lie Nielsen’s shoulder planes for one, are basically Record 042’s with mouth adjustment. The Record 072, 073 and 074 do have mouth adjustment. I’m going to spend some time adjusting and honing this blade to get the right projection. I think I may even have to get a new blade, we’ll see how it goes.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Compass planes Hields

Hields wooden compass plane

Hields wooden compass plane
Wooden compass plane, made by Hields of Nottingham.

Picked up this beautiful compass plane as it cost next to nothing and I was so intrigued as to whether it would still work well. I can’t find much about Hields of Nottingham online, so if anyone has more information, I’d be pleased to know more. I need the right job to come up to try this plane out, but something will come up at some point no doubt. (Observe the deluded reality of the vintage tool collector).

I’m also slightly in the dark about how far the blade should protrude from the sole on these planes, and how the plane should be set-up. Again, if anyone has more info, beyond what for me, will be plain trial and error, please get in touch.

Hields wooden compass plane
Mathieson blade held in place by wooden wedge.
Hields wooden compass plane
Image shows blade protruding though sole and the basic curve of the sole, allowing work on a concave work piece. The adjustable front piece can be raised or lowered, effectively altering the radius the plane will work in.

Hields wooden compass plane

Hields wooden compass plane

Categories
Planes Stanley

Meet the Baileys (Part 2)

Revel in the beauty that is the Stanley No.7 Jointer plane.

Stanley Bailey No.7
Stanley Bailey No.7

Stanley Bailey No.7
The blade that’s in this plane isn’t the original, although it’s a Stanley blade. I’ll switch it out when I get round to finding an original.

 

Stanley Bailey No.7
Coquettish ‘look at my bottom’ shot, shows small adjustment nut, and that steel lower bolt, that allows the whole frog to move forward and backward.

 

Stanley Bailey No.7
3rd-gen Bailey frog receiver, as seen on my other No.4 smoother. You can’t moan about these, they’re solid.

[notice]Tool Nerd Alert! The following information is reserved for people who, like me, probably should get out and socialise a bit more.[/notice]
I believe this plane is a Type 11. It has rosewood handle, and the front knob is a ‘low’ version. Manufacture date is therefore 1910-1918, and the blade should carry a pretty wacky ‘V’ ‘Stanley, New Britain, Conn, USA’ logo. It has a small brass depth adjuster nut and it has the ‘APR-19-10’ patent date added behind the other dates on the plane casting, behind the frog. Please let me know if I’ve got this wrong. You learn by your mistakes!

Stanley Bailey No.7
I could, and at some point will, write a long post about repairs. One of the things that attracted me to this plane, was the beautifully repaired handle. To me, a nicely done repair is as interesting as a makers mark. As with a lot of these finds, you can’t help but wonder who did this and exactly how he went about it. What a lovely job.

 

Stanley Bailey No.7
Someone wanted to make sure this didn’t get nicked!

 

Stanley Bailey No.7
As previously mentioned, this isn’t he original blade, and a close up shows it’s a bit crappy. However, this shot is just to show how a chipbreaker exaggerates the angle of the cut shaving, once the blade is slicing the wood. The chip breaker lifts the shaving a little more, making it break out.

Jointer planes like this one, are used to true an edge, so that successive pieces butt up against one another very closely, or they’re used to get the face of a piece of wood very flat. At 22″ long, it’s one of Stanley’s biggest planes, being only secondary to the No.8, which is 24″. Jointers are long planes because the ‘sole’ of the plane is less likely to follow the ups and downs of the wood, but will instead remove the high and lows, ready for planing with a smaller-sized plane.

I think these planes are just beautiful, and for not much money, you can snag one on an online auction site, and have a killer tool working in no time. If the one you find is rough, rusty and looks like crap, this is the sort of thing you need to do.

So there it is. The second of my Bailey family.

I buy old, good quality woodworking tools. If you have any tools you would like to sell, please get in touch using the contact form on the home page.

Categories
Planes Stanley Tool Makers

Meet the Baileys (Part 1)

Stanley Bailey No.4

This is the standard Stanley plane, designed by Leonard Bailey, of Boston Massachusetts. This one is a ‘No.4’, and sits in a middling position on the size scale, from the diminutive ‘No.1’, through to the large jointer, the ‘No.8’. I’ll soon be posting a some more detailed info about Leonard Bailey, and his association with Stanley as a separate page. In the meantime, I’ll stand on the shoulders of giants, and point you to the wonderful website of Patrick Leach, Patrick’s Blood & Gore. If you’re looking for information about Stanley tools, Patrick’s website is an absolute must-read.

Patrick’s earlier career was in software. He developed an interest in woodworking early on, and now admits to being a ‘self-confessed tool fanatic.
He has an enviable knowledge of Stanley, and other well-known makers.

A proportion of my own small tool collection is made by Stanley, and it’s becoming something of a mission to build a complete set of Stanley USA-made ‘Bailey’ planes, numbering 1 through to 8. Recently I managed to find my first Bailey, (which is a number 4), from a private sale on the web.

Stanley Bailey No.4
The standard no.4 measures 9″ long, by 2″ wide. It weighs in around 3 3/4 pounds and was manufactured between 1869-1984.
Stanley Bailey No.4
Removing the lever cap (left) shows the iron and the chipbreaker (sandwiched together in the middle by a bolt).
Stanley Bailey No.4
The frog, the part that remains in the sole of the plane, has an adjustment lever protruding from the top. The lever, when moved left or right, slightly angles the tip of the blade up or down either side, to make sure your cut is square.

Tool nerd alert! (Quite geeky and unnecessary facts about frog casting variations follow).

The casting in the base of the plane takes a lot of stress holding the frog, which in turn holds the blade, chipbreaker and lever cap. Consequently, the method for holding the frog was constantly being revised by Stanley and was the focus of many new patents. Previous to the design shown, the frog was seated on a flat bed with machined grooves, but in 1902 this new design was introduced. The frog has support from a cross rib and centre rib, and also support on its leading edge from the casting, as well as being held by the two bolts. Planes of this period have ‘PAT’D/MAR-25-02/AUG-19-02’ embossed into the sole of the plane.

Stanley Bailey No.4
The design of the frog receiver, (the part of the plane casting where the frog is bolted to), underwent four major changes during the complete manufacturing period.
Stanley Bailey No.4
The brass adjustment nut moves in and out, moving a ‘Y’ shape wishbone-shaped piece of metal in and out. This movement transfers to an up and down movement as the metal tab protrudes through the front face of the frog, (see pic below).
Stanley Bailey No.4
Here you can see the metal tab that’s raised and lowered by the movement of the rear adjustment lever and wishbone. This tab engages with a slot in the blade, resulting in fine depth adjustment of the blade in the mouth of the plane.
Stanley Bailey No.4
The no.4 is a standard-sized plane, but see how small it looks compared to some of Stanley’s larger models. Here’s the #4 (top) next to a #7, which is a big ol’ badass jointer. I’ll be posting more pics of the #7 soon, (my second purchase of the family).
Categories
Planes Restoration

Stanley #48 restoration

This Stanley #48 is a tonguing and grooving plane. Designed to work on stock from 3/4″ to 1 1/4″, (the groove centers on stock 7/8″). It holds two cutters, and originally the one to the right was a wider one, meaning if you’re working with stock that isn’t 7/8″, the wider cutter will still trim it. To use the plane, you disengage the little sprung pin at the front, which releases the guide rail, and switches to either use one cutter, or two. You’re then set up to make the tongue, or the groove.
This plane has some rust, but should be serviceable once I can get the front pin and guide rail moving. Both are currently seized!

I’m hoping most of this is just surface rust. 🙁

I’ve found the best way to get something moving again usually involves a product called ‘WD40’. But even after several quirts of this, and a short wait, things are staying stubbornly solid.

Flipping the plane over, I can see that the front pin has a hole right through to the base, so in goes another big squirt of ‘WD40’, and the same for the central guide bolt, upon which the guide rail swings.

(Drums fingers on countertop).

TAA-DAA! The pin finally releases, with a bit of help from my pliers. (I put a bit of cloth on the jaws to make sure I didn’t mess up the pin’s head). The guide rail creaks into it’s first swing in years, and I add another liberal spray of ‘WD40’, just for luck.

I’m using a rust removal gel from ‘Hammerite’. A liberal coating goes on with my girlfriend’s toothbrush, (not the one she currently uses, I hasten to add). A wait of 20 mins, and let’s see how much rust comes away.

First application did pretty well, but another two coats and some scrubbing with very fine wire-wool, gets just about everything off.

The finished article gets a good wash of clean water and a dry with my girlfriend’s hairdryer. After that, a quick coat of oil to protect the metal from flash rust, and we’re good to go. The blades have been cleaned, honed and replaced. Just need to put the front rosewood knob back on and I’ll post some pics of this in use soon.

Swing out sister! 🙂